Can't a girl have a peaceful vodka lunch?
by Rapideyes
Summary: Tamsin is trying to spend her lunch break alone in the Dal, but unfortunately Bo and the Fae world has other plans. Leads to some Valkubus, blood and healing.
1. Chapter 1

Tamsin sat alone at the bar of the Dal cradling a tumbler of vodka and ice. It was rare to see anyone else in here at noon and this suited her fine. She liked to spend her lunch breaks alone, preferably with alcohol.

A racket broke the silence as the door was thrust open with a clattering noise. Tamsin looked to the doorway irritated and offended by whoever would ruin her lunch. This was until she took in the sight of Bo covered in blood, desperately clinging to the door for support.

"Trick! We have a problem!" The blonde called out, her eyes still fixed on Bo.

Bo attempted to stagger forward, collapsing into the Valkyries arms as Tamsin rushed forward to catch her.

"What the hell happened to you?"

The only time she ever saw people this butchered was on the battlefield and then she was usually on route to take them to Valhalla. Bo's skin was patterned with rows of incisions and puncture wounds, Tamsin knew only one Fae whose work looked like this. An underfae species called the Razorfen that kills its victims by trapping them in an enclosed space before releasing hundreds of surgically sharp spines to slice the flesh of their victims. They kill by repeating this process until the target bleeds to death which, for a lot of more resilient Fae, can be a long and torturous demise.

Trick rushed in to be met with the sight of his granddaughter spluttering blood out onto the floor.

"Bo what happened?" the older man rushed forward reaching out.

"Don't touch her!" Tamsin snapped. Tamsin was growing rapidly protective of the brunette.

"Take her downstairs. I'll call Dyson, she needs to heal quickly or she's going to bleed out." Trick murmured concerned by the Valkyries tone.

"No it can't be him. Someone else. It has to be someone else" Bo pleaded in a raspy voice, the first sounds she had made since entering the bar.

"I'll take care of it" tamsin interjected, her face steeled.  
"You really think you can overcome your instincts and save her?" Trick was obviously concerned leaving his only blood relative with a Valkyrie, especially with such grave injuries.

"I'm not going to kill her Trick!" Tamsin was audibly offended by the implication; she carefully pulled the succubus' body closer to hers.

"You're a Valkyrie; it's in your nature." It was true; it is the duty of a Valkyrie to take dying heroes from the battlefield to Valhalla but Tamsin had no desire to lose being able to see Bo every day.

"I trust her trick." Bo said flatly, she didn't have any energy to argue with her Grandfather.

Bo's ability to stand was failing so Tamsin scooped her up in to her deceptively strong arms and carried her downstairs. She knew she could let Bo feed without losing control. She could never hurt the succubus, not anymore.

She placed her gently on a makeshift hospital bed. She could feel the shadows creeping into her face at the sight before her. The blood seeped and congealed. It was starting to dry and flake in some places. Bo's eyes lolled back in her sunken eye sockets.

"Please don't give up on me here hot pants." This time with a much gentler tone than the blonde usually used.

Tamsin pressed her mouth desperately to the succubus' hoping that she would start to feel that familiar draining sensation clawing at her very core.

Still she waited until she felt a bloodied hand snake up into her hair. Usually she'd be mighty pissed at anyone who dared get blood all over her, especially in her hair, but this time it came as a relief as the cool feeling spread throughout her body. She opened her eyes briefly to see the spectral blue orbs piercing back at her.

As Bo's wounds began to close the succubus pulled her closer leaning up into the kiss, her hands wandering down Tamsin's back pulling their bodies flush together. The blood that coated Bo's skin was smearing over the Valkyrie; her skin covered in gory handprints. Tamsin felt as though she was swimming in the blue energy, floating around and drifting out to sea.

"Wow. That was. Wow." Bo spoke smiling into the kiss.

As the kiss broke Tamsin's grip on the hospital bed loosened as she slipped to the floor unconscious.

"Tamsin? Tamsin? Can you hear me? Fuck, why did she let me take so much!" She quickly crouched down next to the sprawled body in front of her.

"Trick! Help she's not waking up!"

Trick rushed downstairs, surprised that it was Bo's voice crying for help and not the Blonde's.

Bo lent in to try to give her back some chi.  
"Bo don't, Valkyrie are one of a few species that can only feed when someone is close to death in battle. It won't work." Bo sat back frustrated and guilty.

"You need to protect her while she is in this state. If any other nearby Valkyries sense that she is close to death they will come to try to take her to Valhalla. Even if she could recover, they rarely risk losing their own kind." Trick had his concerned voice that Bo never liked to hear.

"What's so bad about that? Can't Valkyries pass freely between this world and Valhalla?" Bo didn't understand the technicalities but she knew she couldn't lose the girl who was making risking her life for her a habit.

"A Valkyrie taken to Valhalla at the brink of death is punished for their failure. The cost of immortality is that they must give up all their memories and emotions of the people in their life." Trick continued in his lecturing tone. "Stay with her, I will try and find something to ward off any other Valkyrie." Trick left, scurrying up the rickety staircase.

Bo sat on the cold hard floor cradling the blonde's head in her lap. The ghostly face of death still warped the cheeky grin Bo was used to seeing. She gently stroked her fingers across her face, tracing every outline. She lent down to press a kiss to her forehead.

"Why would you do something so stupid?" As she pulled back, she noticed some of the colour had returned to her face replacing the deathly image.

"Tamsin? Please wake up? I need you to wake up. I don't want to fight this war without you by my side. You've been the only one whose believed in me fully recently."

Many hours passed, Bo finally drifted to sleep still cradling the girl she felt so attached to.

Tamsin finally spoke with a cough and a groan, "Ugh my head. What happened. Bo?"

"Oh thank god you're alive" The brunette beamed with relief.

"No thanks to you. Couldn't even move me onto the comfy bed? My back is killing me" Tamsin spoke wincing as she sat up.

"I'm so sorry I didn't realise how much I was taking" The guilt was overwhelming for Bo, to think she almost killed someone so important to her.

"Really it's fine. I can handle a mid-day nap if it means I still get to see your face." Tamsin smirked, sitting up.

"Thank you." Bo smiled sincerely.

"Anytime." Tamsin said with a wink. Standing and brushing some dried blood and dust from her clothes, inspecting the ruined garments, "Am I going to have to start carrying around a change of clothes when I'm with you?"

The pair exchanged a genuine smile. Bo wasn't sure what their relationship could be but she knew that there was so chance she was letting this girl out her life without a fight.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I wrote the first part as kind of a spur of the moment thing and didn't really plan where it was going. This is a change of pace so you'll have to let me know how you feel about that. Thank you for the support, I find Tamsin a fascinating character to watch and to write. **

That evening Bo had texted Tamsin asking if she could take her to lunch as thanks for what she'd done; the guilt of almost killing her was still at the forefront of Bo's mind.

Tamsin thought pretty hard about how to reply in a way that she was clearly saying yes, but not sounding too eager, while still sounding flirty. Making sure people thought you were a bitch took a lot more effort than people realised.

She eventually settled with a cheeky open-ended response.

"That sounds like the least you could do…"

Jackpot, Bo had taken the bait

"I guess we could always make lunch a regular thing…"

Tamsin flopped back onto her bed grinning, letting her phone fall to her side. Not many people had ever gotten to see her smile, not genuinely at least. She would have to disguise the giddy feeling in public, but for now, she could let herself get excited about what this might mean.

She had guaranteed them time to get to know each other, preferably over drinks. She could talk to Bo about her missions and be there to help at any point. It was perfect. If she became the person that Bo went to for advice it would just make them closer and closer.

Choosing an outfit had been almost as hard as choosing the phrasing of her texts. She settled on something casual but that she knew looked good. As with everything, Tamsin put a lot of effort into looking like she hadn't.

They'd agreed to meet at the Dal; Bo was surprising her by taking her to a favourite restaurant of hers. Tamsin strolled into the Dal trying to maintain maximum attitude, she faltered in her steps as her heart sank; Lauren was here. Bo and Lauren were sitting together at a small table, hands held shooting pathetic puppy dog eyes at each other. Seeing couples act like that was the exact reason that Tamsin avoided all potentially romantic restaurants, especially on her least favourite day of the year: Valentine's Day.

She slid onto a stool at the bar, trying to avoid drawing attention to herself until she had worked up enough strength to deal with watching a love-fest. Especially when one of the parties involved she was having unexplained feelings for.

"Hey Tamsin, can I get you something?" Trick spoke quietly; he felt a twang of guilt for not trusting the girl the previous day.

"Double vodka please." She recited her regular order, reaching into her purse.

"It's on the house; it's really the least I can do." Trick smiled genuinely, placing his hand over hers on the counter.

"Uhh okay. Thank you." Her natural response was to be suspicious but she was trying hard to supress it. Tamsin was not used to getting things for free, especially not from people who didn't want something from her.

During their short exchange, Bo had stood up from her table to get refills for herself and Lauren.

"Hey there, I didn't see you come in." Bo was using her silkiest voice as she stood a little too close to Tamsin, just enough to make her heart begin to pound.

"Yeah, you were probably distracted by the good doctor." Taking the first sip of her drink, only wincing slightly at the bitterness. Of course she was jealous, she much preferred the idea of herself being the one distracting Bo.

"You know I wanted to see you or I wouldn't have invited you to lunch." Bo was playing innocent now. As good as Tamsin was at putting on her bitch face, Bo was better at playing naïve to the effects she had on people.

"Anyway are you ready for lunch?" Bo said standing upright, laying off the charm. The trick was never to overdo it.

"Yeah I guess." Tamsin muttered, downing the rest of her drink.

"You don't mind if Lauren comes do you?" Bo asked out of courtesy, she could tell she had irritated Tamsin somewhat.

"Aren't you asking the wrong person?" Tamsin asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Hmm, perhaps." Bo said thoughtfully, turning to face her human girlfriend.

The car journey to the little restaurant in light Fae territory had been awkward at best. They were quickly seated at a little corner booth and handed their menus.

Tamsin flipped through the little book front to back.

"Ugh really, they don't serve alcohol before 5pm. That is the worst thing about lunch." She said with an exaggerated eye-roll.

"Well you didn't have to come." Lauren said, still staring intently at her menu.

"Lauren, really? Tamsin saved my life yesterday. I wanted to thank her." Bo didn't want to deal will girl drama, her life already had enough problems.

"It was nothing. Trick practically had to make me." Tamsin spoke with a slight smugness, understating what had happened.

"That's odd, I would think he'd want to keep you away from Bo, especially when she's in a vulnerable state." Lauren looked thoughtful, as a scientist she found actions that didn't make sense to her rather perplexing.

"Ugh god, why does nobody trust me?" Tamsin was sick of it, slamming her menu down on the table.

"Maybe because you're dark Fae, maybe because you're a Valkyrie, maybe because you've had it out for Bo since you first got here? Pick one." Lauren was getting pretty heated on the matter, now glaring at the other blonde.

"Lauren calm down, she's one of the good guys. Tamsin isn't going to hurt me." Bo tried to maintain a relaxed tone, hoping it would rub off on the other two women.

"Good to know you're so happy trusting her after what? A couple of weeks. Really Bo, you're being naïve." Lauren often took to lecturing when she couldn't make sense of what Bo was doing.

"She was the only one who believed me that Kenzi was missing. Where were you?" Bo knew Lauren still felt guilty for what had happened but she had no trouble pulling this card if that's what it took for Lauren to back off.

The arguing had drawn some attention from locals.

"Hey Blondie, is that true? Would a dark Fae Valkyrie really dare come to one of our joints?" A group of three large, brutish looking guys stood up from another table in earshot.

"Maybe we should teach her a lesson." One of the other men chimed in.

"Good idea bro, I heard that shiny hair can fetch quite a price." The original of the three spoke with a sneer.

Bo stood up immediately walking towards the men "Are we going to have a problem here?" her hand firmly placed on her hip.

"I don't know, that depends on your friend, is she going to put up a fight or not?" He said smirking.

Bo sauntered over to the one doing most of the talking, assuming he had some kind of leadership role. She placed her hand on his arm, a soft orange glow illuminating his skin.

"I think you'd be much happier if you just left us alone. Isn't that right?" She took on a soothing tone now, making eye contact as she spoke.

"Yes, I think you're right. Can we join you at your table? I just want to get to know you." The man eyed Bo up longingly.

"I don't think so boys, trying to have a private discussion." Bo re-assumed her normal confidence, returning to her seat.

"You didn't have to do that. I can take care of myself." Tamsin was definitely not used to other people looking out for her.

"It's much easier for me to… soothe the ego of some thugs than have you assaulting people in light territory."

"Are you two going to play nice?" Bo looked back and forth hopefully between the two blondes.

"I will if the doctor stops assuming I'm some monster out to get you." Tamsin retorted snarkily.

"Fine, if that's what Bo wants." Lauren said, sucking in her bottom lip.

"Thank you. Geez. Finally I can look at my menu."

"So, what are you working on at the moment doc?" Tamsin asked trying to make nice.

"Well, we've extracted a compound from the flesh of a marine Fae that we believe could act as a broad spectrum antiviral for Fae transmitted diseases. It works by disrupting the electrostatic charge of a membrane and…"

"From the squals?" Tamsin interrupted, she had witnessed a science rant before and she could do without.

"Yes, how did you know?" Lauren looked up, genuinely surprised; it was rare anyone actually knew anything about what she said.

"I like to keep up to date on my science, plus I've been around a long time, I've picked up a few things. We used to use paste made from their flesh to stop infection on the battlefield. Back when you could still hunt other Fae of course." Tamsin knew the best way to handle the situation was to get Lauren on side; she really didn't need another girl whining at her, especially when she couldn't numb it with alcohol.

"Yes, I heard its first uses were as an antibiotic. Fascinating, I'm impressed. I'd love to pick your brain for other emergency medical procedures you used to use" Lauren now lent towards Tamsin, her eyes lit up.

"To be honest Doc, a lot of our work wasn't therapeutic. It was mostly focused on collecting the dead or dying." Tamsin wanted Lauren not to shout at her but she wasn't sure she wanted any extra communication than was necessary.


End file.
